A former Griswold man was sentenced to 44 months in prison followed by 10 years of supervised release after he pleaded guilty in August in federal court to a receipt and distribution of child pornography charge.

Adam Lee Petrowski, 26, who had been living with family in Canterbury since his November 2010 arrest, was ordered to report to prison on Jan. 15, 2013.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Petrowski used a peer-to-peer Internet file-sharing program to receive and distribute images of child pornography. In January 2010, agents with the Connecticut Computer Crimes Task Force conducted a court-authorized search of Petrowski’s Griswold residence and seized a desktop computer and an external hard drive.

Forensic analysis of the seized items revealed more than 2,300 image files and 24 video files of child pornography. Included in his collection of child pornography were images of children under the age of 12 engaged in sexually explicit conduct and images of children engaging in sadistic or masochistic conduct.

Petrowski was arrested on a federal criminal complaint on Nov. 5, 2010, and was released on a $100,000 bond.

The case was investigated by the FBI, the U.S. Secret Service and the Connecticut Computer Crimes Task Force, which includes federal, state and local law enforcement agencies. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarala V. Nagala.

This prosecution is part of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Project Safe Childhood Initiative and the District of Connecticut’s “Operation Constant Vigilance,” which are aimed at protecting children from sexual abuse and exploitation.

The Connecticut Computer Crimes Task Force, which is housed at the main FBI office in New Haven, investigates crimes occurring over the Internet, including online crimes against children, and provides computer forensic review services for participating agencies. For more information about the Task Force, or to report child exploitation crimes, contact the FBI at (203) 777-6311.